At the time of writing, two worlds are available, each with their own campaign. I played through most of Erekir before deciding I'd had enough and switching to Serpulo. I was surprised by just how different it was, but I was too burnt out on the game at that point to care. I only ended up playing the first two levels before dropping the game for good, so this is a review of Erekir only.

For starters, this game has to be commended for providing a satisfactory (hehe) factory building experience on mobile. The UI works well and all of the factory elements are there. It's never going to get as complex as its PC counterparts, but I was shocked it was as deep as it was. There are some hiccups when trying to tie anything together, but nothing some small corrections couldn't fix. This was the main thing a mobile game like this needed to get right, and thankfully it did!

What sets this apart base-building wise from other games is how compact everything has to be. You're often placed into narrow landscapes and you have to somehow cram everything into tight spaces while taking into account where resources are. It's a micro challenge of its own and often I had knots of conveyors that were completely undecipherable yet working as planned. This would be an issue for expanding said base, but the game is split into levels so you'll never stick to one area for too long, meaning these temporary disasters of design are suitable.

Where the game kinda falls apart is its objectives. This is both a factory building game and a tower defence. I was worried at first that trying to construct defences on a small screen while under attack would be frustrating, but thankfully this was a non-issue with the ability to pause the action while you place things down, unpausing to let everything be created. The problem lies in just how boring the action is. There's a very thin line between completely obliterating your enemy with immovable defences and an unstoppable battalion of tanks, mechs and ships, as opposed to getting wiped out by an unseen threat that suddenly drops the strongest units in the game onto your base's one weak point. There's no push and pull that makes tower defence exciting; at the end of each level, I've either spent hours toiling away at a strategy that takes zero skill to finally execute (huge anticlimax), or I've spent hours just to be crushed by enemy forces because I had no idea what kind of units they'd have or where they'd attack from. Losing this progress was the biggest demotivator and lead to me finally giving up the game.

I like Mindustry, as a platform for factory creation it's really solid and pretty outstanding for a mobile offering. I just think a game like this could be better (or, I suppose, cater more to my tastes) with less combat-oriented level design or just a more open experience like Factorio and its counterparts. Still, strong showing and I might jump back in when/if a new planet is released.

I first started this game a couple of years ago and... I was not impressed. The demo didn't leave a great impression but I'd hoped the actual game might be more interesting. After an hour or two playing, I begun to feel like the game was pretty generic. HOWEVER, I recently returned to it because I was on a Metroidvania kick and felt like I should give it another chance. Lo and behold, I now love it!

It's pretty hard to even articulate WHY I think it's so good. It's pretty beautiful and the combat feels great, but I often talk about that special SOMETHING that a game needs to have to stand out, and I'm not sure this has it. Instead, it's simple a incredibly crafted world that knows what it wants to be and excels in all aspects. It's tough but far from brutal and some of the combat are truly fantastic. If anything, I think it could be MORE difficult. One of the DLC bosses is a step above everything else in the game while remaining extremely fair, and it's so much fun. Boss design in general is visually stunning, with some having uniquely intriguing unlike any other 2D action game I've played.

What a redemption this was, I couldn't put the game down over the course of April and cannot WAIT for the sequel. I also plan to complete another playthrough on NG+ to see the rest of the content!

I was taken with this one from the first trailer but I was pretty surprised about what it ACTUALLY was when I finally got around to it. Each game of cards doesn't actually have you playing cards, instead you take part in minigames that result in various cheats, which is super unique! There's more to it than that, but the general gist is going around France and cheating people out of money while avoiding being caught and unravelling a twisty narrative involving the king. The story is a highlight, as is the writing which is consistently entertaining. The game stays fresh over a decent run time with lots of strategies and shake ups in the formula that encourage on the spot thinking and some tough decisions. It's exciting from start to end, and totally unlike anything else you'll play!

Teslagrad was a little special to me because it was one of the first, if not the very first, games I played on Steam. Replaying it, it's just a quaint puzzle platformer/Metroidvania that I enjoyed! The visuals were always great but the visual overhaul makes it look just that much better. I was able to beat the game in one sitting and my biggest issue was that the mechanics just feel a little underdeveloped, and the bosses are a little annoying. Teslagrad 2 didn't make this game obselete, though. This game has a much different vibe and a slower pace through the tower, which is deliberate. Was nice to revisit, but lost a little luster this time around.

To get the little negatives out of the way first, the character models are a bit weird and the plot was pretty middling. Now, the rest was fantastic. Teslagrad 2 might have the best movement of any Metroidvania I've played, and it doesn't even take that long until you start unlocking some cool abilities. It's a fast-paced romp through a world I adored to explore. The game does away with conventional fast travel, instead allowing your abilities to shine and providing unique opportunities to blitz across its map. My one big disappointment is the lack of a climactic final challenge that tests your mastery of every ability. They're so fun to use, but the game never asks for too deep of an understanding of each, which I feel would have tied the game together in a perfect way. Still, a must play if you like platformers.

I wish they'd do something drastically new with the story mode, instead we get the same gimmicks and enemies from the prior two games, with a very standard story that just left me feeling largely underwhelmed (though a lot of it was still fun). I barely played the multiplayer in 2 and I dabbled with it here and I just don't think it's for me anymore, at least not with the time commitment required to become competent. Still HATE the timed map system, really fucking hate games that force you to play on their schedule. God forbid I sit down to play the game only to find my least favourite maps on the rotation. I never played Salmon Run in 2 because it was legit NEVER available when I'd think about playing it, to the point I gave up and didn't bother. Thankfully, it's always available in 3 and despite it having similar scheduling issues (fuck off with the 'map rotates every 36 hours' nonsense) to the multiplayer, it's good fun! A super solid horde mode that I can at least see myself playing for a couple more hours.

Overall, Splatoon 3 is more (better, arguably) Splatoon 2, which is both good and bad. It's fun, but I've been here before. I liked many of the singleplayer's levels but also felt like I'd played them before. I hope the DLC and eventual Splatoon 4 will actually take this series in a new direction lest it risk stagnancy.

A really solid Zelda-like adventure! Combat's fun, game is beautiful and the music is delightful. The humour was a bit of a miss though, and there wasn't a key 'hook' that made it stand out from its inspirations. Titan Souls, Acid Nerve's previous game, was an incredibly distinct boss rush experience. While this game's world feels uniquely its own, it does no favours by having a basic suite of powers and weapons that feel like they could be in any other game. It all works! It's just missing that special "something".

There's simultaneously so much and so little to say about this game. Metroid Prime was my very first game and thus holds an incredibly special place in my heart. I know Tallon IV better than I know most people. The most amazing part of this experience was just being able to finally make out what certain things were even supposed to be. I spent so much time rubbing up against walls and enemies so I could pore over their intricacies. I just can't understate how good this game looks, the original is beautiful but remaster is simply stunning. Every little detail pops, while the original games was truly immersive for 2002, this game brings that into the modern era effortlessly. It's gorgeous, it just is. The redesigns for the enemies look amazing too, really astounded by the work done on every aspect of the orginal. I won't go into too much detail here, though. If you play the game, you'll get it.

As for the core game, I'll always love Metroid Prime. It's from my favourite series and while it's probably my least favourite of the trilogy, it's a pleasant adventure each time. Always satisfying to knock off each item on a checklist, though what I'd give to get lost in the world fully again. I was surprised to notice brand new details this time around, one of which I'd have to replay the original and see if it was always there. Point is, this game was always brimming with attention to detail and due to how slowly I took the game in this time around, I feel like I picked up on more than I usually would. I also finally read (most) every scan this time around, not just the ones that contribute to logbook completion. Some great writing in there, one highlight being that the space pirates are no longer allowed to keep pets due to rampant phazon infection.

My ONLY gripe with the remaster is the as of yet missing Fusion suit! This was a great unlockable in the original which required you to hook up a copy of Metroid Fusion using a GBA link cable. It was then brought back for Trilogy, albeit with different unlock requirements, but it's notable absent from this remaster. I really hope it's added post-release, but after Fusion came out on NSO and there was no sign of it there, I've lost almost all hope.

To conclude, a jaw-dropping yet faithful remaster of a favourite from my childhood is, shockingly, delightful! My dream now is that Prime 2 and 3 get the same treatment, I would kill to see the likes of Torvus Bog and SkyTown, Elysia in this style.

While I'd watched playthroughs of this game since I was a wee lad, I've only just gotten around to playing it and unsurprisingly, it's fantastic! Each chapter is so unique and it really twists the typical formula of an RPG in exciting ways. Only two notable issues; the bosses are far too easy until the very last one (whereas the original Paper Mario was challenging throughout), meaning the combat loses some weight. Secondly, the partners barely exist after their introduction chapter. Would be great to have some inter-party banter and more shining moments of characters having something to do after you've met them. Two pretty minor complaints overall, the game was delightful throughout!